Thanksgiving Shopping Expected To Match Last Year’s Level

Bedford native Mindy Warren also made the trip to Bloomington with her mother. “So many people have already visited, I’m not sure if they’re going to still be there or not”.

“TVs, TVs. That’s all I came for”, Lorri Walton said. “If it were up to me, I would be in my pajamas and on my computer at home”.

“Black Friday shopping, I mean, it’s the holiday season so it’s time to get our sales on”, shopper Carolina Estadela said.

Black Friday deal hunters shopped at the big stores like Macy’s, Target, Walmart, JC Penney and Kohl’s on Thursday. That pattern has occurred over past Thanksgiving weekends, as more stores opened on Thursday and siphoned sales from Friday.

Among the chief lures of this year’s Black Friday offerings, Wal-Mart has slashed prices on high definition television sets and drones that can fly up to a half-mile from its operator.

“It’s really good”, said Ivan Delia, a Black Friday shopper. He believes the weekend’s sales will likely rise from previous year because shoppers did lots of buying, including pricey flat-screen TVs. Some Swiss stores that have started offering American-style “Black Friday” discounts online have seen their sites freeze, slow down or crash under a surge in traffic.

“I don’t miss the insane”, said Christine Aguirre, a 37-year-old office manager, as she pushed a cart filled with two televisions and other goods.

“I’ve been here on other Black Fridays and it was bad, but I guess this year because of the hours it’s not bad”.

For some shoppers, Black Friday has become a family tradition.

They usually shop at Walmart and sometimes go to JCPenny.

USA Today recently highlighted this announcement stating, “The 520 stores in the Mall of America will have the option to remain open, though many will likely decide to close their doors, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune”. Macy’s said Thursday that its Herald Square flagship welcomed 16,000 shoppers when it opened at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, 1,000 more than past year.

Shoppers in JCPenney stores by 6 a.m. on Black Friday received an envelope containing a coupon worth an undisclosed amount. It also said more than 60% of its online sales came from shoppers using their phones.

Miller said she plans far in advance by looking through advertisements and making note of things she wants to purchase. “I just like shopping”.

The National Retail Federation has said it expects sales this holiday season to increase by 3.6 percent, mainly due to the rise in online shopping.

Thanksgiving Day online sales totaled $1.93 billion, which is slightly lower than expected but still represents 11.5% growth over a year ago.

Online shopping is again predicted to account for the majority of Friday’s sales.

For Black Friday, Adobe estimates that US online retail sales will top $3 billion for the first time, up 11.3 percent.

According to the latest data released by Adobe Digital Index, customers have spent more than a billion dollars on online shopping, on this year’s Thanksgiving Eve and Black Friday sales event. That excludes auto sales, gas and restaurant receipts.

Amazon along with other retailers are also having their Cyber Monday sales like Walmart and Best Buy; among others.